Reliance Eyes Sainsbury, Carrefour Stakes: FT

India's Reliance Industries is considering buying stakes in British supermarket group J. Sainsbury or French retailer Carrefour, the Financial Times newspaper said on Saturday.

"With both of these companies we'd definitely get a good supply chain and we would benefit from their experience," the newspaper quoted an "insider" at Reliance as saying.

Sainsbury is already the subject of a bid approach from a consortium of private equity firms led by CVC Capital.

A source close to the matter told Reuters on Friday that U.S.-based buyout groups Bain Capital and Apollo were also considering a joint offer.

Carrefour has been the subject of bid speculation recently as well.

Separately, the Daily Mail newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying Sainsbury's pension trustees were seeking 600 million pounds ($1.17 billion) for the group's pension fund as a condition of their support for a bid from the CVC group.

None of the companies mentioned could immediately be reached for comment.